Barnabas

Transcript

I I want to speak tonight about Barnabas

and what prompted me to really delve into this subject was listening to my friend Chris sales Sandy and i as you know were out in California uh in February and it was then that we went to the Palm Springs Bible school you're looking for a nice warm weather Bible School Palm Springs is usually it wasn't so warm this year but it's a great uh wintertime Bible school so recommend it so while we were there Chris spoke on the friends and enemies of Paul and of course one of Paul's friends was uh Barnabas and that's really uh what I would like to focus on this evening and in particular we're going to talk about barnabas's uh you know his moniker uh his name really his real name was not Barnabas Barnabas is a nickname and it means son of encouragement

and uh I don't know how many of you have nicknames and we probably all remember those awkward kids from high school who would like craft a nickname for themselves you know I want you to call me studly or you know some stupid thing like that right well this this man

was was given a nickname the son

of encouragement and I just think that you know man wouldn't that be a great name for for you or for me to carry you know wouldn't it be great for people to think back on our lives and say you know what I think about Barnabas he was like a real encourager

um and so think about what it might be in your own life that you'd want to have as your moniker as your nickname so for this man Barnabas uh he you know this guy his nickname was the son of encouragement and our class tonight we'll talk a little bit about why I think it was likely that he was nicknamed this way so we're going to start really by rolling back in time and looking specifically at the growth of that first Ecclesia in Jerusalem and we're going to do that by going to Acts chapter 2. and here in Acts chapter 2 we are coming to this time in history after the Ascension of our Lord Jesus to Heaven he's been raised from the dead he spent 40 days on the Earth showing himself to the to the many individuals there in the city they saw this man who had been publicly executed on a Roman cross alive again and because of this and because of the speeches of of Peter and because of the acts of the Holy Spirit these men and women these these people from that period in time began to accept the gospel message and the church the Ecclesia began to grow and we read about this uh in Acts chapter 2 and I'd like to just look at sort of the end of this chapter and we'll start in the 41st verse which is where we come to sort of this conclusion after Peter gives this uh this heartfelt talk to the men of Israel and they they look at each other after Peter speaks and they say you know what should we do and he says repent and be baptized and then we come down to verse 41 and it says and I'm going to read verse 41 through the end of the chapter so this is Acts 2 41. um it says those who accepted his message Peter's message were baptized and about 3 000 were added to their number that day

and says they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching to the fellowship to the breaking of bread and to prayer everyone was filled with awe and Many Wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles all the Believers were together and had everything in common

selling their possessions and goods they gave to anyone as he had need every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts they broke bread in their homes they ate together with glad and sincere Hearts praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people and the Lord added to their number daily those

who were being saved

and so what we what we're reading about here brothers and sisters is the birth of that first Ecclesia in Jerusalem we're seeing that the people there the brother you think about the the atmosphere the community in atmosphere in that place the love that they had for one another the care they showed to one another it was that they had everything in common not just like they were of one mind but they were sharing their possessions to those that had need and it was through this love through the working of the Holy Spirit through this community that they began to bring more and more people into the faith and daily more and more were being saved but you'll notice something right there at the end of the chapter it talks about how during this period of time there was this period of Peace verse 7 47 they were praising God and enjoying the favor

of all the people

but this you know this Camelot period if you will didn't last forever and as we turn the page we find that all of a sudden the favor of all the people is no longer there and it and at first there are these Greek Jews who began to oppose the Christians and that's what we read about in Acts chapter 4. so we'll read the first four verses here again trying to get a flavor for what this early occlesia was like Acts chapter 4 it says the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John these are the apostles that were you know doing that original preaching teaching this is these are the ones from through whom these people learned the truth they came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people and they were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the Dead

so they began talking about how this man who the Jews had crucified you know through the Roman court system if you will this man who had been crucified was raised from the dead and it says They seized Peter and John and they put him in jail until the next day

so I mean this is all very familiar to us but when we come to the end of chapter four

we get even more details about how these early brothers and sisters responded

in such a difficult time what was their response to this

travail

to use Kara's word uh that they were going through and we see it at the end of the chapter it says it's a spirit of generosity we see uh the spirit of love and it's described and it's it's describing this sort of giving and loving spirit and it's at this point in time that we are introduced

to the man nicknamed Barnabas so let's just take a look at this and we'll pick it up again at the end of chapter 4 verse 32. so we see very similar language here to what we saw at the end of chapter two where they had they shared all things in common here in chapter 4 verse 32 it says all the Believers were one in heart and mind no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own but they shared everything they had with great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord

and much grace was given upon was upon them all there were no needy persons among them four from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them brought the money from the sale and put it at the apostles feet and it was distributed to everyone or to anyone as he had need

and now with this sort of preamble were introduced to the man John or Joseph rather the levite from Cyprus

verse 36. Joseph A levite from Cyprus whom the apostles called Barnabas

which means son of encouragement sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles feet

so you know we think about this man and we see the spirit of love and generosity that he had he was an early leader he was an early Elder in the Ecclesia the apostles nicknamed him the son of encouragement due in part to his financial giving

but we're also going to see that the giving that Barnabas you know the generosity that Barnabas exhibited wasn't only Financial in nature that he gave much more than just the financial means that he had he also gave spiritually

so

the first thing as I say is we see Barnabas this this early Elder early leader in the church uh taking this position in part because of his financial giving

now I think I don't know if Jim Sullivan's on tonight but I remember Jim Sullivan I think it was Jim

um

giving giving a class

about the possibility of the Rich Young Ruler back in Luke who came to Jesus asking what must I do to be saved and Jesus gives him this you know this the he says you know the one thing you lack sell your possessions and give to the poor and Jim in his class uh demonstrated through a variety of means that it's possible that this Rich Young Ruler was none other than Joseph the levite from Cyprus

otherwise known as Barnabas so Barnabas now sells a piece of land he gives it to the brothers and sisters who are in need and there begins his role as a leader in the early church

so the next thing when we think about Barnabas as a man

um we see that as he began this relationship with the brothers and sisters in the Jerusalem Ecclesia we see the trust that they placed in his spiritual Acumen if you will they trusted Barnabas to handle difficult spiritual situations

and what I'd like to do is I'd like to have you turn with me now to Acts chapter 11. and here in Acts chapter 11 we read about another Ecclesia this is an Ecclesia that's an Antioch

a good distance from Jerusalem but there begins to be this spiritual controversy in Antioch and the brothers and sisters in the Jerusalem Ecclesia look around and they say who can help us evaluate what's going on with our worldwide community who can help us understand what's happening and and can give us a synopsis as to whether this is a a spiritual problem or not and so that's what we read about in Acts chapter 11. so I'm going to uh uh ask you to turn with me now to verse 19 acts 11 verse 19. it says now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen so Stephen has been stoned

and it talks about how I think the verse begins and there arose a great persecution

and this persecution caused the the brothers and sisters that formed this nucleus of ecclesias you know of the occlusion in Jerusalem it caused them to spread out and it was through this spreading out from Jerusalem that the gospel message began to grow not just in one Center in Israel but now throughout the whole known world

and it says that in verse 19 that those who had been scattered by the persecution and connection with Stephen traveled as far as Venetia Cyprus and Antioch so we're going to be talking specifically now about what was happening in Antioch

it says in verse 20 some of them men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also

so just pause here

until this point in time

the preaching of the Gospel was directed to Jews

those who were in a covenant relationship with God through their circumcision

who were you know descendants of Abraham

and all of a sudden the brothers and sisters in Antioch began preaching and speaking the good news of Jesus and the coming Kingdom to non-jews to Greeks

they were telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus

verse 21 we're in Acts 11. verse 21 the Lord's hand was with them and a great number of the people believed and turned to the Lord

news of this

came down from Antioch and it reached the church at Jerusalem

and they sent Barnabas to Antioch

and so I think this gives us evidence as to the you know the position of leadership or trust or spiritual

um maturity that the Ecclesia in Jerusalem had about Barnabas when they heard about this controversy in Antioch and they needed someone to evaluate if they looked around and they say let's choose Barnabas we trust him

and so they sent Barnabas to Antioch verse 23 when he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God

he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts

so the evidence that

Barnabas saw when he went to Antioch was that there were non-jews who had received the Holy Spirit and therefore he concluded that if God was allowing the Holy Spirit gifts to be received by non-jews

then certainly in God's eyes it was appropriate that the good news of Jesus could be shared not just with Jews but with Greeks too

and so this was where this would be the report that Barnabas would bring back to the brothers and sisters in Jerusalem but look at this parenthetical note in verse 24. speaking of Barnabas the the record says he was a good man

full of the Holy Spirit and faith and a great number of people were brought to the Lord

so while Barnabas was there he himself it appears began to continue the the preaching that those other men had first done and there in Antioch Barnabas began a missionary trip and he's continuing to teach the message of Jesus and the good news of the coming Kingdom

verse 25 says then Barnabas went to Tarsus

to look for Saul so we're going to pause there because we're going to come back to this when we talk about this man son of encouragement and and the the role of a mentor that he played in the lives of others including the Apostle Paul

so what we've done is we've looked at really two things so far about the man Barnabas the first was that early on as the church was growing Barnabas was right there in the formative stages of the Ecclesia and it was through barnabas's financial gift that brothers and sisters who were in need received Financial sustenance

secondly we saw that the brothers and sisters in the Ecclesia there that numbered 5 000 or more already looked to Barnabas as not only a leader but one who had spiritual maturity enough that he could have valued a a controversial subject at another Ecclesia and bring a report back the third thing that we're going to see throughout the acts is that Barnabas seems to be given a position of prominence among other Elders in that early equation and what I mean by that is that his name when when the record the Bible record starts to list brothers and sisters or Elders within the Ecclesia barnabas's name appears very early on in these lists oftentimes the first name so I'll give you a couple of examples so let's just uh Turn the Page over to Acts chapter 13. and uh Acts chapter 13 it says in the Church of Antioch there were Prophets and teachers and then it goes and names them in the first name that you see is Barnabas followed by Simeon called Niger Lucius of Cyrene Manan you know and a couple of other names and the point here is that it's Barnabas whose name appears first and some you know some conject that this means that he had a position of prominence over others we see it again in the next chapter chapter 14 where uh early on in the ministry of Barnabas and Paul or we think of Paul's first missionary journey it was really a missionary journey of Barnabas first and Paul his helper

so Acts chapter 13 verse 13 uh from pathos Paul and His companion sailed to perga and pamphilia where John left them to return to Jerusalem am I in the right chapter wrong chapter chapter 14 verse 13. um the priest of Zeus whose Temple was outside the city brought

bulls and wreaths to the city Gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them but when the apostles Barnabas and Paul and this is the first of many examples where that order is used Barnabas and Paul we see it in chapter 14 we see it in chapter 15 verse 12. we see it in chapter 15 verses 25 and 26 where it's Barnabas and Paul only later on in the second Ministry in the second missionary journey the third missionary journey you see it start to switch where it's now referring to Paul and Barnabas not Barnabas and Paul kind of an interesting thing so I bring that all up because I think that um uh it gives us an idea as to the character of the man the position he held within the early Ecclesia and the views that the brothers and sisters had towards him they loved him he was an encourager he was one who built up rather than tore down and I think that's a great example for all of us yeah Steve yeah I have a I I have a uh a comment and that is that uh the two things that you brought out and that is that in the time when all of the brothers and sisters were together as one yeah you might say in a socialistic environment

okay they were led by the Holy Spirit and I think that is critical in the thinking uh as it was in the whole activity of Barnabas he was led by the Holy Spirit yeah so it's in today's society where there's such a debate between capitalism and socialism uh pros and cons of each the reason that this environment was so successful was because it was led by the Holy Spirit not when you say this environment the reason the socialistic uh environment in the early Ecclesia was successful yes it was led by the Holy Spirit okay yeah yeah yikes

Chris yeah I just wanted to tackle that was your dad I believe that was that was Bob yeah yeah so yeah for example the pilgrims tried socialism I I don't know if anyone ever got uh the history of that and it failed terribly okay uh when they first arrived and it did not they tried to have all things in common and uh they nearly stopped the death you know so okay yeah so I think that I think this is a a good subject it's not one that I plan to really address much in tonight's class but of course the you know the challenge was Socialism or communism or really any of Mankind's uh you know governmental policies is that the heart of man is deceitful and uh it falls apart and so I think the the best form of government is that one where we have a righteous King and uh we can look forward to that day and in the meantime we we struggle with other forms of government

um but to your point dad early on I think the socialistic approach did make sense because they were led by the Holy Spirit

um sometimes we're going to see that even the Holy Spirit Direction caused Apostles to make maybe bad decisions I maybe didn't cause them it didn't prevent them necessarily from making bad decisions so we can go we can go at that but uh let's continue on our discussion about Barnabas rather than uh socialism versus capitalism if that's okay

um when we think about mentorship now we've got this man this this Joseph the levite who is an encourager he's a builder he is one who builds up and encourages as I say as opposed to tearing down and as we read carefully throughout the Book of Acts we're going to see I think just how instrumental Barnabas was in mentoring others to become disciples and eventually Elders within the Ecclesia Barnabas was a man who was a giver not only financially but spiritually and when we think of mentorship I want you to now bring your mind back

to those days when Jesus was teaching his disciples

and if there was ever a mentor that one would seek to have in their life it would be our lord Jesus

prior to the to Jesus mentoring his disciples rabbis in Israel used to Mentor in a very different way they mentored through formal schools today we see churches Mentor through seminaries and and you know programs

and in Jesus day the rabbis would have schools like gamalia and he would enroll students who would study at his feet and they would learn by wrote the messages of the Torah and the 612 Commandments and and they would have to memorize these things

but when Jesus came on the scene his role as a rabbi his role as a spiritual Mentor was different

Jesus mentored by having a personal relationship he had personal involvement in the lives of those he called so the first thing we're going to see Jesus do as a mentor is he's going to call

his followers to him Jesus says come follow me and then the way he mentored them was be by becoming involved in their lives

so that they could see him on a day-to-day basis and see how Jesus interacted with others in the course of normal human life experiences

and so that's the sort of mentor that I think we would all love to have as opposed to you know what was it that Nate called the the teacher who stands on the stage you know the sage on the straight this but maybe it was rich the name it's not the sage on the stage it's uh Jesus was the guide on the side he was the one that was able to put his arm around the mentee and sort of lead him and instruct him and guide him

and I think Barnabas picked up on that and we're going to see how like Jesus Barnabas mentored that same way

so think now about you know Chris you had talked about how

Paul doesn't really get his name Paul until his first missionary journey he's referred to as Saul right

and we know through the scripture that Saul was called to be an apostle by Jesus himself

Paul says that directly you know we had talked about Galatians chapter one so I'll just flip over to Galatians and and just read that so we can get it from Paul to Paul himself Galatians chapter 1 verse 11 Paul writes and he says I want you to know brethren

that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up I did not receive it from any man nor was I taught it rather I received it by Revelation from Jesus Christ

so Paul is called to be an apostle by Jesus

but I want you now to put yourselves in his shoes

put yourselves in the mindset of this man who had just spent

you know months if not years of his life devoted

to hunting

and jailing

and sometimes killing

the early followers of Jesus

put yourselves in the mind of this man who's now been called to be an apostle by Jesus

but who carries with him the guilt

of knowing that he is in his own words the chiefest of all sinners

how does one

now change in such a way that they would have the confidence

to enter a community in which you were the chiefest of persecutors

how is it that you could develop the the mindset that would say yeah

although I hunted and killed many of the the family members of these brothers and sisters I desire to be a teacher I desire to share the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the coming Kingdom like what would it be what would it take for you to make that switch in your mind to say yeah I'm the guy I should be able to go and preach the good news

so even though Jesus appeared to him he still carried the weight of what he had done to these people in his heart

and I think that it was through Barnabas that Paul was able to get over that

Barnabas sought out Paul

and mentored Paul and sponsored Paul and built Paul up to the point where he could not only see himself as an elder in the Ecclesia but he could and was a great proclaimer of the truth and I think it was because partly because of Barnabas

um Acts chapter 9 let's go there

this is just a quick comment on that yeah but you know you you get you know you mentioned that you know Paul would have killed some of their family members yeah and yet they had to accept him as well not only did he have to enter in and be confident but they had to say I'm not accepting this guy let's get him not only I don't talk about Christ but let's let's you know exact revenge on this guy right yeah

and it was like Hey Christ taught me yeah he accepted me now you have you know you kind of have to do the same you know but yeah

Steve Court yes

um also uh wasn't it uh who was the um brother who went and went to Saul and healed his eyes

and didn't God say to him I will show him he has to uh suffer many things for my name's sake and so on so yeah I'm just wondering if you don't call that yeah

yeah I think that's uh that's that's really a great uh a great discussion and this is leading up to what we'll be looking at now in Acts chapter nine

so

Acts chapter 8 begins with this great persecution that we had talked about earlier uh on that day a great persecution broke out against the church chapter 9 begins with the words meanwhile Saul was still breathing out murderous threats

against the Lord's disciples

let those words sink in

you know have you ever felt afraid

I mean these brothers and sisters were fearful these weren't empty threats these were

murderous threats

as Butch says you know there were some of these family members who had likely been murdered directly as a result of what Saul had done Saul hunted them down

so

just I mean

imagine what it was like so Steve Steve was asking about uh

uh let's go to chapter 10 uh chapter 9 verse 10 in Damascus there was a disciple named ananias and the Lord called to him in a vision ananias yes Lord he answered the Lord told him go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul for he's praying and in a vision he's seen a man named ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight

Lord ananias answered I've heard many reports about this man in other words are you kidding me why me you want me to go to this guy

and as and to Steve's Point uh verse 15 but the Lord said to ananias go this man is My Chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel I'll show you how much he must suffer for my name so that was your point right Steve

yeah okay so here we are in Acts chapter 9 Saul has you know has had this vision of the Lord Jesus has revealed himself personally to this man he is converted his eyesight is is restored we come now to verse 26. no longer is Saul out in the country

hunting down those those uh you know breathing murderous threats and hunting down these brothers and sisters he's going back to the heart of the early occlusion he's heading back to Jerusalem

verse 26 when he came to Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples but they were all afraid of him not believing that he really was a disciple

can you Matt you know can you can you fault them for that

verse 27. look who's on the scene

the son of encouragement the early Elder within the Ecclesia

but Barnabas took him

and brought him look at those verbs took him brought him he didn't just like wait for it to happen Barnabas risked his reputation you might say he risked his life and the lives of his brothers and sisters

because he believed in the report that this man had been converted

Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles he told them how Saul on his journey had been had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus

so Barnabas was able to commend Saul

as a brother in good standing not based only on what he thought but his own personal experience of seeing Saul in action in Damascus and how in Damascus he had preached so fearlessly

verse 28 so Paul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem and because brothers and sisters because Barnabas sponsored him because Barnabas risked his reputation because Barnabas you know wrote this letter of commendation

Saul Now who had until this point you know considered himself and throughout his life did continue to consider himself the cheapest of sinners did have the the confidence to go about Jerusalem freely and To Boldly preach the gospel

and I just think that's a a great uh lesson in mentorship how how Barnabas sought him out and sponsored him and entrusted him and

um soon

um however the opposition to Paul arose again but from a different Source it wasn't the brothers and sisters who were opposed to Saul now it was the Greeks the Greek Jews and and they wanted to kill Saul

and because of that the the early Ecclesia there in Jerusalem said you know how do we protect this guy they weren't trying to like get rid of them they were trying to protect him and they said the best way we can protect him is to send them away for safe keeping and they sent them they sent Paul to Tarsus and that's what we read in verse 30. when the brothers learned of this learned about the the plan to murder Paul Saul

it says um they took him down to caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus and then the church throughout Judea galleons Mary enjoyed a time of peace and it was strengthened and encouraged by the Holy Spirit and it grew in numbers living in the fear of the Lord

so what happens to Saul what happens to Paul now you know he he makes this great you know entrance into Jerusalem he's sponsored by Barnabas he's preaching boldly but he's only there for like 15 days and opposition arises and they put him on the Shelf in Tarsus to protect him

and the clock begins ticking

and I think it was three years that he was in Tarsus

and now there arises this controversy that we had talked about earlier

now not in Jerusalem but this controversy at the Ecclesia in Antioch where there are not Jews who are receiving Jesus as their lord and being baptized into his name but there are Greeks

there are non-circumcised you know non-israe Israelites who are entering into the body of Christ

and what happens

the mentor the son of encouragement Barnabas says I know

let's find

Paul

let's get Paul to help us

and that's what we're going to read about next so um turn to acts 11 we're going to look at the 22nd verse

so Barnabas has you know concluded that it is appropriate for these Greeks to receive the the calling that they have been called by God they're receiving the Holy Spirit gifts that is that is entirely appropriate for them to be baptized into the one body and it says news of this reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas to Antioch we've talked about this now what happens next verse 25. then Barnabas went to Tarsus

so for these three years Saul's been on the Shelf hiding and you know he's been a refugee

you know we think about Muhammad fleeing from Iran to Turkey we've got now the Apostle Paul who has fled

from Antioch to Tarsus

and Barnabas now seeks him out remember those active verbs that we had talked about earlier you know he he sought he sought him out verse 25 he went to Tarsus to look for Saul and when he found him he brought him to Antioch so for a whole year Barnabas named first and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people and the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch

and this brothers and sisters is how mentorship works

Barnabas seeks one who had great

knowledge of the Jewish scriptures

but now begins to teach this man spiritual lessons that were taught by the Lord Jesus about giving you know when you think about how Paul was concerned about the poor in Jerusalem you think about all of the things that Paul wrote about in like second Corinthians where did he learn that he must have learned that from Barnes who sold the field and delivered the proceeds to support those who are in need these were examples of mentorship that Barnabas had over Paul

and I think there's a great lesson there for us within our ecclesions you know one of the things that I you know just recently I think we've seen some great examples of it here in Boston you know where we have brother Josh Sullivan last week give just a terrific Bible class on him he's a young brother who has been entrusted with the responsibility of leading a class before that we had Gabe Lloyd give a great exhortation on you know spiritual athletes

um I I remember personally I think I've told a few of you this but when I was a young man brother Jeff Wallace was the Sunday school superintendent in Boston

and he tapped me on the shoulder and said Steve I put you on the calendar to lead the adult Sunday School in the book of Ezra

and I was like shocked I was like me what are you kidding me I can't do that and Jeff sought me out I think the way Barnabas sought out Paul

and and I think that's what a mentor ought to be doing it's not just waiting for a young brother or a young sister to say hey can I ask you a question Uncle Steve Uncle Chris you know can you give me some guidance it's about taking the initiative it's about seeking those who are in a position that have you know some promise who have you know and building them up into a position where they can be you know they can carry the torch for the Next Generation and I think that Barnabas gave an example of that

um the next thing we're going to look at we're we're at 8 20. so we'll conclude in a few minutes but the next thing we're going to look at when we think about this relation this Mentor mentee relationship is is um not only does Barnabas seek out Paul but now after they've been together Barnabas

was willing

to suppress his need to be the leader

think about that

you've got a man who has this Sterling reputation in the Ecclesia

he's sort of you know in today's vernacular the big name speaker

who goes to all the Bible schools or who you know it's it's Barnabas and an underling you know in all the descriptions and now they are on this missionary trip together

and Barnabas gave

Paul

the responsibility

to actually speak

he gave Paul the opportunity to learn how to use these holy spirit gifts

that he had been bestowed

let's take a look at Acts chapter 13. so Barnabas and Saul have set off on this missionary journey and they reach this point where there is opposition to them

we're going to look at verse 9. then Saul who was called Paul or in Acts 13 verse 9 then then Saul who was also called Paul filled with the Holy Spirit looked straight at elimus and said you're a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that's right you're full of all kinds of Deceit and trickery you'll never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord now the hand of the Lord is against you you're going to be blind and for time will be unable to see the light of sun and immediately you know so we see Paul now when con Paul and Barnabas are together they're confronted by this sorcerer who is opposing their preaching and Barnabas like backs on

and Barnabas says to his mentee in essence you handle it he was willing to step back and let his mentee grow and develop and I think that's that's that's the mark really of a good Mentor mentee relationship

now I want to end

by talking about

the the sort of the sad ending

uh between you know in this relationship between Barnabas and Paul and it comes in Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15 of course is the Jerusalem conference this is another controversy that has enveloped the early

ecclesias

and this controversy is is whether

the the Greek converts

need to be circumcised

and so Barnabas and Paul are together and they they have this Jerusalem conference

but then we come down towards the end of the chapter

and it says in verse 36 sometime later

Paul said to Barnabas now note the change now it's no longer Barnabas and Paul it's as though the mentee and the mentor have an an equal relationship you know if if Paul was still the mentee he wouldn't feel

it appropriate I think to have sort of this public disagreement with his Elder but he had groan and because he had grown

um he was able to have this sort of con you know it was a conflict

so it says um sometime later Paul said to Barnabas let's go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they're doing so let's go back on our first missionary trip go back to those early occlesias that have been formed and build them up you're the son of encouragement and Barnabas wanted to take John also called Mark with them

now the backstory here brothers and sisters is on the first missionary journey John Mark sort of bailed

he pulled the plug and Paul didn't feel that he could rely on Mark on John Mark didn't feel that it would be appropriate to bring him along because he couldn't be trusted or entrusted with such an important responsibility of building up the Ecclesia if he was going to bail again

but think about this

Barnabas was a mentor at heart

and Barnabas now has seen the growth of Saul

and has seen how Saul has become his equal and maybe is greater in terms of preaching the gospel message

and Barnabas then turns his attention to build up another man

he sees

how Mark has struggled

how he's made errors in his walk in faith

and instead of giving up on Mark

Barnabas pours his heart into this man

it says that

Barnabas wanted to take John also called Mark with them but Paul did not think it wise to take him because he had deserted them in pamphilia and did not continued the work in the work says in verse 39 that they had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company

Barnabas took mark and sailed for Cyprus

but Paul chose Silas and left commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord

so we end our class tonight looking at now not one but two mentors

we see Barnabas mentoring John Mark and we see Paul mentoring Silas

now the scriptures don't record any more details about Barnabas

and it's therefore easy for us to think that Barnabas has somehow fallen from faith

that this disagreement was such that he just couldn't handle it or that he is expunged from the history of the uh of the Bible because of this disagreement

but my thoughts on this brother are just the opposite

I think that Barnabas put his heart into John Mark the way he put his heart into Saul

and at the end of his life

the Apostle Paul was able to ask for Mark who would be good in his service do you remember that I I don't have the note written down I think it's in Colossians that uh that Paul makes that reference

and so while we don't see

Barnabas mentioned again

we see the effects of his mentorship on Mark

and it's through mark

that we had the first gospel

and it's through Mark that we had this man coming to Paul's side at the end of his life when he was an old man

and so my concluding thought is that this man was a son of encouragement to the end of his life and that we brothers and sisters should follow in his footsteps and seek out those who we might build up and encourage just as he did